I am not repeating the details of all the events on previous lists so please remind yourselves of those by looking back.

Events

8th March Diggers Festival. Details in previous newsletters, but an urgent change of evening venue has come through:

Due to circumstances outside of our control the Diggers Festival evening event will no longer be taking place at Gleneagles Social Club. The event is now continuing direct after the ‘fringe’ from 7:30pm in the Horseshoe Inn, 36 Sheep Street, Wellingborough, Northants, NN8 1BS. If you are driving there is plenty of free car parking in the town

centre nearby (please note – during the afternoon the Morrisons carpark is only free for 3 hours – otherwise I think you could be charged). If you have any concerns or enquiries please do not hesitate to contact me on 07958 639 692.

There will be plenty of real ale and its a great live music venue in Wellingborough and I would like to say a big thank you to Debbie and Nick at the Horseshoe for their support.

8th March International Women’s Day – see below for two useful links.

10th March 7.00 pm NTUC Meeting Old Black Lion. Agenda and Mins have been sent out by John. Please see below for summary of interesting report from Unite about NGH and cuts to the out of hours pathology service payments.

16th March Red Rope Walk: The next Northampton Red Rope walk takes place on Sunday 16th March. Meet at 10 a.m. outside the Church of St Michael & All Angels, Creaton. (G.R. 706 718—Post Code for shop/Post Office near the church is NN6 8NA) A varied walk with sweeping panoramic views at times, via Hollowell and Cottesbrooke. Please e-mail Roger Rees if you are going to join us on this walk. Details of this walk and Red Rope Poster March. The Northampton Red Rope group can be contacted via the website at: http://northampton-redrope-walking-group.org.uk/

7 and 8 April Searchlight Conference. The University of Northampton’s School of Social Sciences will be playing host to a conference to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the anti-fascist Searchlight group. Searchlight, formed as an occasional newspaper and later anti-fascist press agency and from 1975 a regular magazine, has been at the forefront of the anti-fascist movement for half a century. For details and registration please contact daniel.jones@northampton.ac.uk

Reports/Campaigns/Links

Out of Hours Cut to Pathology provision at NGH – Urgent. Unite has sent us a report of this dangerous cut and threat to staff pay.Please take a look. Letters to the hospital and paper would be welcome. I produce a summary here as can’t get it to link atm.

NGH management have terminated the NGH Pathology Composite Agreement 2002 which linked the development of the Pathology 24/7 availability of diagnostic laboratory tests

80% – meaning a reduction of up to a third of members pay, apart from the panic reduction of the NGH pay bill due to government cuts to the so called “ring fenced” NHS budget.

Their declaration of “wanting to take the cost out” of Pathology OOH is both unrealistic and irresponsible by NGH management and, if implemented, will lead to the collapse of a service providing 24/7 blood tests for NGH patients. It is likely that the current situation will end with industrial action by the Pathology blood test staff.

Collapse of NHS 24/7 blood test provision has occurred in other parts of the country when cost saving initiatives have been imposed by NHS management. This resulted in high

cost locum staff having to be employed at agency rates which are far in excess of NHS rates.

It is strange then that NGH are prepared to employ locum medical staff in NGH A/E for £1500 – a night – yet seem to begrudge highly qualified, in house, diagnostic support staff £7500- per year – to provide this increasingly vital service on a 24/7 basis including every night, weekend, bank holiday. NorthantsUNITE Health Sector Branch fully support the NGH Pathology membership and condemn NGH management for their incompetent management of this situation.

Hospital Closure Clause: On Tuesday, the government could get free rein to close hospitals across the country. But, MPs will now have a chance to vote on an amendment which would scrap the hospital closure clause. Can you contact your MP to ask them to vote for this crucial solution? Please go to list of petitions and pick one on closures to email your MP. http://www.38degrees.org.uk/campaigns

Events

19th Jan Sunday: First Red Rope walk of the year. Please see previous newsletter for details.

21st Jan NCC Budget Cuts Consultation Meeting to Oppose Cuts. 7pm at the Dostiyo Centre 52 Dunster Street, Northampton. Nearest easy parking at St Michaels car park unless you have a blue badge. Please advise me and/or Ron if you are able to attend or invite others if you think that they can contribute to discussions and any decisions. I will pass on attendance emails to the organiser. Analysis of Equality Impact Assessments are here: EqIA analysis Summary 2013 and EqIAs 2013.

from January, Rule 8a to be amended to read ‘The Annual Meeting of the Council shall take place in January from 2015 onwards. Proposed by Bob Ansell, seconded by Ron Mendel.

Please come along or make sure someone from your union can attend. Nominations are invited for all posts as listed in the rules. If you are having your AGM soon, please remember to elect NTUC reps. The number you are allowed is also in the rules.

Work is ongoing for our Vision For Northampton, but we really need more unions and organisations to get their ideas to us asap. Contact Sarah for details/help etc.

8th March Diggers’ Festival Wellingborough. Various events are taking place and there will be a display in the local museum from 27th Feb. DiggerFestival‘EarlyBird’ticketsare NOWONSALE for the evening event! All Fringe events are free – but it would be great if you could let organisers know if you have an interest in attending the library event so that they can keep the library informed of numbers.’Early Bird’ tickets for the evening are available until24thJanuary 2014 at a price of £8 or £7 concessions. Tickets are available direct from Mike Matthews with a S.A.E. 38 Curtis Mews WELLINGBOROUGH Northamptonshire NN8 5PG. Cheques should be payable to Independent Socialists of Wellingborough.

Information and requests for help

Petition Against Government Cuts to Daventry District Council

The Government has decided to cut funding to Daventry District Council by 13.9%, despite the fact that the national average is a cut of only 2.9%. This cut is on top of a cut of nearly 8% last year.

This impact of this dangerous cut will be a loss of services as well as a possible increase in business rates or council tax. Daventry deserves better than to suffer a further loss of services and attacks on local residents and businesses.

Please click on the link below and add your name to the petition opposing the cut to Daventry District Council,

You might be interested in the newsletter for the ‘One Fund For All‘ newsletter produced in Chesterfield/Derby. The fund is to support the unemployed with centres/resources etc and there are quite a few around the country. Useful info on a range of activities and issues.